Aside from the turnover situation, the thing about last year’s Georgia squad that got the most attention as being evidence of why the program slipped to a five-loss season was the number of penalties the Dawgs racked up. Georgia finished 113th nationally in penalties per game and 107th in penalty yardage per game.

But if you look at the record, it’s hard to see how much difference those numbers made as to wins and losses.

First Downs

Penalties

Date

Opponent

Rush

Pass

Pen

Total

09/05/09

Oklahoma St.(10-24)

5

8

3

16

7

58

09/12/09

South Carolina(41-37)

6

8

2

16

13

108

09/19/09

Arkansas(52-41)

4

15

1

20

14

93

09/26/09

Arizona St.(20-17)

5

9

3

17

7

55

10/03/09

LSU(13-20)

1

10

0

11

7

59

10/10/09

Tennessee(19-45)

6

7

0

13

9

79

10/17/09

Vanderbilt(34-10)

8

10

1

19

8

71

10/31/09

Florida(17-41)

5

10

1

16

9

87

11/07/09

Tennessee Tech(38-0)

12

7

1

20

11

86

11/14/09

Auburn(31-24)

10

6

2

18

4

29

11/21/09

Kentucky(27-34)

10

12

0

22

5

75

11/28/09

Georgia Tech(30-24)

15

6

0

21

5

39

12/28/09

Texas A&M(44-20)

9

8

0

17

6

39

Totals

96

116

14

226

105

878

Georgia’s worst numbers came in the South Carolina, Arkansas and Tennessee Tech games – all wins. For the season, the team averaged 8.5 penalties per game and 65 penalty yards per game in the wins and 7.4 ppg and 71.6 pypg in the losses.

That’s not to say that some penalties don’t hurt more than others. But the commentary I heard last season didn’t break down the effect penalties were having on Georgia’s performance; it simply focused on overall national rankings as some sort of catch-all rationalization. And for that, there doesn’t seem to be much of a causal link at all.

If there’s one thing to take heart from, it’s the way the penalty numbers drop fairly precipitously in the final four games of the year. That coincided with Georgia’s best run of the season with regard to turnovers – even with the four in the Kentucky game. The team played its most disciplined ball at the end. Why that was the case – and I’m guessing a stabilized offensive line and a team that got back to running the ball consistently well were the biggest factors – is something the coaches need to identify, raw numbers aside.

Quote Of The Day

“He had some good pointers,” Smart said about Saban’s advice on dealing with the quarterback battle. “But I’ll keep that between he and I. I’m always looking for good advice especially dealing with the quarterback situation.” — Dawgs247, 5/16/18